Umut Adan | Bahar

ARTIST: Umut Adan
TITLE: Bahar
LABEL: Riverboat
As American and British rock spread across the world in the 1960s, Turkish musicians like Erkin Koray, Baris Manco and Cem Karaka energized and modernized folk and traditional music by adding the new sounds of garage and psychedelic rock.

Program January 30, 2019

For me, one of the great pleasures of hosting a radio show is the opportunity to hear musicians I've never heard of, and then find out that I love their music.  That's what happened to me this week -- the artist in question is Umut Adan (pictured above) from Turkey.

Adan's debut international album Bahar (Spring) will be released on February 22.  He's working in a genre called Anatolian rock that back in the 60s and 70s melded Turkish folk music with garage and psych rock, kind of like what bands like the Byrds or Fairport Convention were doing with American and British folk.

I'll play a track this week from Bahar alongside some of my Anatolian rock favorites, plus one from Richmond's own Yeni Nostalji, who are mining a similar vein.  Also this week: a continuation of last week's exploration of Malian music -- this time, three classic Malian female singers plus artists who'll be at the Soiree Nomade in this year's Festival Sur Le Niger.  Plus some disco boogie African style to send you out dancing.

Charts January 28, 2019

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 MDOU MOCTAR | "Kamane Tarhanin" [Single] | Sahel Sounds
2 BASSEKOU KOUYATE AND NGONI BA | Miri | Out Here
3 JUANECO Y SU COMBO | El Gran Cacique | Infopesa
4 VAUDOU GAME | Otodi | Hot Casa
5 SARAZINO | Mama Funny Day | Cumbancha
6 DUR-DUR OF SOMALIA | Volume 1, Volume 2 & Previously Unreleased Tracks | Analog Africa
7 ATERCIOPELADOS | Claroscura | Sony Colombia
8 DAKTARIS, THE | Soul Explosion | Desco / Daptone
9 SALIF KEITA | Un Autre Blanc | Naive
10 BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND | Siri Ba Kele | Sublime Frequencies

Mdou Moctar | Kamane Tarhanin

ARTIST: Mdou Moctar
TITLE: Kamane Tarhanin
LABEL: Sahel Sounds
Tamasheq guitarist Mdou Moctar from Agadez, Niger is one of the most prominent second generation musicians playing what the Tamasheq call tishumaren or assouf or la guitare; in English, we typically call it “desert blues.”

Program January 23, 2019

Richmond, Virginia, USA and Segou, Mali have been sister cities since 2009.  And WRIR's relationship with Segou started even earlier -- in the winter of 2006, a Richmond delegation featuring several WRIR volunteers visited Segou, made an alliance with that city's Radio Sikoro, and attended and even performed at Segou's second annual Festival Sur Le Niger.

Fast forward to 2019, and WRIR's relationship is getting even deeper.  WRIR volunteers and filmmakers Cameron Kit and Andee Arches are about to depart for Segou to begin filming Sister Radio, a documentary film following the partnership between WRIR and Radio Sikoro as they build a program to educate women in Segou on radio broadcasting and radio production.  And they'll be in Mali during the 15th annual Festival Sur Le Niger.

Cameron Kit joins me in the studio this week to talk about her trip and the Sister Radio project.  She and I will also spin the music of some of the famous musicians Segou has produced, many of the artists who'll be performing at this year's Festival Sur Le Niger, and some of Mali's most popular female singers.

For more information about Sister Radio:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sister-radio-documentary#
https://www.facebook.com/sisterradiodocumentary
http://www.wrir.org/sister-radio

And for more information about Festival Sur Le Niger:
http://www.festivalsegou.org
http://www.festivalsegou.org/index.php/download_file/view/2150/441

Charts January 21, 2019

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 BASSEKOU KOUYATE AND NGONI BA | Miri | Out Here
2 MDOU MOCTAR | "Kamane Tarhanin" [Single] | Sahel Sounds
3 TARTIT | Amankor / The Exile | Riverboat
4 JUANECO Y SU COMBO | El Gran Cacique | Infopesa
5 VAUDOU GAME | Otodi | Hot Casa
6 BARRO | Somos | self-released
7 DANIEL KAHN AND THE PAINTED BIRD | The Butcher's Share | Oriente Musik
8 SUPERFONICOS | Suelta [EP] | Discos Fonicos
9 COMPLETE CUBAN JAM SESSIONS, THE | various artists | Craft Recordings / Concord
10 IVAN "MAMAO" CONTI | Poison Fruit | Far Out Recordings

Program January 16, 2019

Andy McGraw from the University of Richmond joins me this week to discuss a fascinating concert he's involved in next Wednesday at U of R's Camp Concert Hall.

Andy's group Gamelan Raga Kusuma and the Richmond Symphony will team up under the direction of Indonesian master musicians Sumarsam and Darsono to premiere a reconstruction of the Javanese music that Claude Debussy heard at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition.  The ideas Debussy got from gamelan music -- cyclicality, stasis, new ways of using counterpoint, and the unique harmonies of Java -- became key elements of his compositions and, through him, were integrated into 20th and 21st century Western classical music.

Andy and I will talk about the concert, about Debussy and gamelan, and we'll listen to some related recordings, possibly even transcriptions of 1889 wax cylinders.

Also this week: Bassekou Kouyate's new album, a wide variety of Latin American sounds from Andean pipes to Mexican banda, and some socially conscious klezmer.

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba | Miri

ARTIST: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
TITLE: Miri
LABEL: Out Here
At this point in his career, Bassekou Kouyate is synonymous with his instrument, the Malian proto-banjo lute called ngoni.

Charts January 14, 2019

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 DAKTARIS, THE | Soul Explosion | Desco / Daptone
2 STEP FORWARD YOUTH | various artists | Greensleeves
3 TARTIT | Amankor / The Exile | Riverboat
4 SALIF KEITA | Un Autre Blanc | Naive
5 JUANECO Y SU COMBO | El Gran Cacique | Infopesa
6 ALBOROSIE MEETS ROOTS RADICS | Dub For The Radicals | Greensleeves
7 IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE | "Tell Me (Doko Mien)" [Single] | Merge
8 STEEL PULSE | "Stop You Coming And Come" [Single] | Rootfire Cooperative
9 STRICTLY THE BEST VOL. 58 | various artists | VP
10 MAURICE LOUCA | Elephantine | Northern Spy

Program January 9, 2019

We're back to our normal programming on Global A Go-Go after reviewing the best releases of 2018 for the last three weeks.  And we'll feature a version excursion into "Uptown Top Ranking," Althea & Donna's 1977 proto-feminist dancehall classic, which was conceived as an answer record to a 1975 single by Trinity.  You'll hear both of them plus another answer record (see jacket above) -- in total, six releases all based on the same blueprint.

Also this week: the women of the Sahara Desert; chicha from deep in the Peruvian selva; Salif Keita returns to his Afro-pop roots; and the Daktaris, straight outta Nigeria Brooklyn.

The Daktaris | Soul Explosion

ARTIST: The Daktaris
TITLE: Soul Explosion
LABEL: Desco / Daptone
When Soul Explosion was first released in 1998, Gabe (Bosco “Bass” Mann) Roth’s Desco Records marketed it as the reissue of an early 70s Nigerian afro-funk album.

Juaneco Y Su Combo | El Gran Cacique

ARTIST: Juaneco Y Su Combo
TITLE: El Gran Cacique
LABEL: Infopesa
Here’s a reissue of the 1972 debut album by Juaneco Y Su Combo, super-collectible in its original pressing and a key marker in the development of chicha, Peru’s unique form of psychedelic cumbia.

Salif Keita | Un Autre Blanc

ARTIST: Salif Keita
TITLE: Un Autre Blanc
LABEL: Naive
Mali’s Salif Keita, the 69 year old “golden voice of Africa,” says this will be his last album.

Tartit | Amankor / The Exile

ARTIST: Tartit
TITLE: Amankor / The Exile
LABEL: Riverboat
We tend to think of desert blues as music that was sprung, fully formed, on an unsuspecting world.

Charts January 7, 2019

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 BARRO | Somos | self-released
2 MICHI SARMIENTO Y SU COMBO BRAVO | Salsa Con Monte | Vampisoul
3 ANGELIQUE KIDJO | Remain In Light | Kravenworks
4 CAMARAO | The Imaginary Soundtrack To A Brazilian Western Movie, 1964-1974 | Analog Africa
5 SALIF KEITA | Un Autre Blanc | Naive
6 VAUDOU GAME | Otodi | Hot Casa
7 BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND | Siri Ba Kele | Sublime Frequencies
8 DUR-DUR OF SOMALIA | Volume 1, Volume 2 & Previously Unreleased Tracks | Analog Africa
9 STEP FORWARD YOUTH |  various artists | Greensleeves
10 DEAD CAN DANCE | Dionysus | PIAS